What did you do in the garden today?

[CluckNDoodle]

Saturday, my husband and I planted the elderberries in what we were calling Berry Lane, but is now Jam Alley. There is a mole in my garden, and I have declared war. It set the trap off yesterday, but I think the angle was off and it didn't get the darn thing. If it stayed away from my plants roots, fence posts, and trellises, I wouldn't be so annoyed, but I guess all the yummy things are in those areas. Yesterday, I did some weeding and my husband made me this sign:
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Today, I need to get in there with the weed whacker. I also need to hand till up that last bed because we still haven't gotten the rototiller from FIL. The weather looked like it was going to allow me to plant everything that hasn't been planted, but then it says Thursday and Friday will have lows below 40°F. So, I'll probably hold off on the warm weather things until after then, unless the forecast changes again.

It looks like ants are eating the leaves of my new sweet cherry trees. I am going to double check for aphids. Has anyone else had this? I looked online, but everyone says they are either good for the tree or tending aphids.

I love the sign! Fingers crossed you can catch the little bugger. We have a bunch of moles in our yard but fortunately they don't seem to mess with the garden, they just leave mounds for me to trip over, lol.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I hate moles.
I had them in CA in my lawn.
I tried everything. EVERYthing!

I had always hated any animal suffering but those moles brought me to the point of standing barefoot on my lawn in my nightgown in the wee morning hours, with my pitchfork raised in the air, raging with bloodlust in my heart. Willing one to move so I could pierce its dark little soul.

The visual!!!

 

[Sueby]

I tend to change up the fats quite a bit, lately I’ve been using avocado oil. It doesn’t add any flavor.

I've been using it for my mayo - great because it has no flavor!

 

[Sueby]

That bean tower is epic!

They build the most quality things over there @Acre4Me farm! Have you seen the coops & pens - everything makes me drool. I keep trying to get DH into wood working, but he's a welder at heart. If I wanted coops, planters & garden beds make of steel I'd be golden.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good morning gardeners. I trim the fat from the steak before I put the rub on it. When ready to cook in my cast iron skillet, I heat the pan then add the fat trimmings and render that until there's enough to "grease" the pan. I remove the fat bits then toss in the steak. OMG! so much more flavor. I think I need to go buy steak for tonight's dinner. Yum! Yesterday was quite productive. DD came over early and we (her mostly) planted her chocolate tomatoes. Then I planted replacement plants in the San Marzano bed. Then we got radishes, a little more bok choy, carrots and butternut squash. Apparently I either didn't buy summer squash seeds or (1) I lost them (2) accidentally tossed them. So we're going with winter squash. The main garden is fully planted. Then we got the new blueberry bush planted and planted sunflower seeds in the high garden (we're still working on a name for that). After lunch I planted my little dish garden and set it on the big stump in my backyard. This morning I planted the sage starts in one of the herb beds. Then I fed the chickens and went on my garden walk after. The green beans are just beginning to break through the dirt. Everything else in there is looking good. I need to do some serious weeding in the leeks and onion bed. Today the plan is to get the lima beans planted in the high garden. I forgot to mention that I installed a garden gate on the fence up there yesterday. I have had a lone wild turkey visiting the slope so I wanted to reinforce the boundaries. I've never had a problem with these wild turkeys. They seem to be respectful of my fences. Fingers crossed. I started the sourdough sponge last night and made the dough before I went out to feed the chickens. It's now on it's second rise and nearly ready for the oven. After that comes out of the oven I can go out and get back to gardening for the day. Warm thoughts to you @karenerwin. I hope your recovery from vertigo is progressing well @igorsMistress. Have a great day all.

 

[DotToDot]

Good morning! I’m going away for two weeks, and I’m afraid my mint patch will have overtaken the entire herb garden by the time I get back…

 

[igorsMistress]

I've been using it for my mayo - great because it has no flavor!

You make your own mayo? Is it pretty easy? I’ve been a die hard Beat Foods/Hellmans person but something about it doesn’t appeal these days.

 

[Paz]

So, I would like to share my opinion over Riesentraube tomatoes. In short I hate them!
Dutching them may seem like as easy task at first, but they shoot out of their flower branches-hundreds of shoots! It makes Dutching them impossible or rather super annoying. They have tons of flowers, but most don’t become fruit. I have many different kinds of tomatoes right next to them, and they produce fruit just fine. The taste is nice, but doesn’t worth the amount of work. Maybe if you guys use Spanish trellis instead of Dutch trellis, you would enjoy them. I didn’t.

 

[Sueby]

You make your own mayo? Is it pretty easy? I’ve been a die hard Beat Foods/Hellmans person but something about it doesn’t appeal these days.

Same here, always only Helmans. But we are trying to be as heart healthy as possible here & eat what I grow so I've been making my own mayo with my eggs & avocado oil. It's darn good! I make 1 egg, 1T lemon juice, touch of salt & then drizzle in 1C of avocado oil slowly while mixing with the stick blender (or food processor).

So...has anyone seen white turkey broth? We made a store bought turkey yesterday & I made a broth with the carcass. It cooked for about 18-19 hours, no veggies or anything in it, just turkey bones. Its white! This is it strained & cooling.

 

[Paz]

One of my favorite fats for frying eggs (other than butter) is beef tallow. We render it ourselves from fat we get with our 1/4 cow purchase. It hits just right with eggs.

I like olive oil. For pretty much everything. There are many kinds, each with its unique taste. I like going to the local oil farms and taste the different varieties, then choose the best one.

I noticed a bunch of ants on my peach tree yesterday & a few leaves have been eaten by something. Not sure if it's related or not! I did not see aphids, but I can't get down there to check super good. I read a neat article on ants farming aphids - interesting but questionable.

They do indeed farm them, they like to help them and give them food, then eat them. They would also take aphids from one place to other, in order to make a new farm closer to their nest.